The "Elimination of water from 4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-pentanone" is an easily performed experiment which gives the desired product only in relatively low yield and with low selectivity because of the formation of an isomeric byproduct . The purity of the end product is reasonably high.

The mass efficiency is average if compared to that of the other NOP experiments. Thus we evaluate it as good enough. .

(Eco)toxicological data for all substances in this experiment except the byproduct 2-methyl-1-penten-4-one are available. Diethyl ether and cyclohexane are organic solvents used in analytical determination and possess relatively low acute toxicity. The dangerous properties of diethyl ether are caused by the possible formation of explosive peroxides. Possibly this solvent can be replaced by another ether of similar polarity (e.g. tert-butyl methyl ether) in the thin layer chromatographic method of reaction control. The auxiliary inorganic substances do not pose any human health risk .

The educt, product and the isomeric byproduct are all biologically easily degradable substances which also be mineralized easily. Of all other used substances only the solvent cyclohexane is not easily degradable. Cyclohexane and also the iodine catalyst are classified as dangerous to the environment because of their possible bioaccumulation respectively their toxicity to aquatic organisms .

Summed up we evaluate this experiment with a low economic efficiency and low (eco)toxicological risks, but a relatively high environmental persistence of some used substances with the "yellow light".